Charles Dillon (actor)

[scotmum]

Interestingly, according to a letter in The Era in Dec 1863 from a Clara Dillon, a person named Miss Eliza Webb was passing herself off in Australia as Mrs Charles Dillon.

This same letter mentioned that Mrs Clara Dillon was already back in England.

Searches of Australian newspapers via Trove, indicate Charles Dillon returned to England in 1867, after an absence of about 7 years.

Trove returns numerous other mentions of Charles in Australia.

[jaywit]

Quite a long obit. in the Aberdare Times and one in the Western Mail, both on Welsh Newspapers online, mind you no mention of his tangled private life.

[Christine53]

There's a long article in The Era of 19 Sep 1858 , detailing Charles Dillon's bankruptcy as lessee of the Lyceum Theatre. His connection with the Lyceum is also mentioned in the report of his father's death in 1856 ( The Era 28 Dec 1856 ). Arthur Dillon was a well known theatrical agent.

At this stage I can't make up my mind what their real names were . Dillon , Church or possibly something else entirely !

[jaywit]

According to the 1851 census Arthur Dillon Theatrical Agent was born in the East Indies, he is with his wife Elizabeth but they married in 1819 making Arthur 16 when he married, something wrong there I think.

[ShaunJ]

There's a baptism at Fort St George, Madras on 3 October 1802:

"Arthur, the natural son of Richard Dillon esq, born 31 August 1802. "   No mother's name.

[jaywit]

Arthur married in Dec 1819 in Southwark, yet Charles gives his place of birth as Diss, no baptism for a Charles Dillon there that I can find.

[ShaunJ]

"Dillon, Charles (1819-1881), actor, was born in Diss, Norfolk, probably the illegitimate son of Charles James Church, an itinerant actor, and Eliza, who married Arthur Dillon, a minor London actor and theatrical agent, whose name he adopted. Until 1856 Dillon played small roles in London's minor theatres, writing plays on ..."

(Oxford DNB preview http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/49701 )

[scotmum]

Slowly but surely we're getting there (or somewhere at least  ). It has certainly been an interesting search.

[humanracer]

Thanks Scotmum,Christine,Jay,Shaun and everyone else who has helped with this. It's fascinating what has been uncovered. I guess Christine finding the divorce notice pretty much confirms what I had suspected in regards to the many Mrs Dillons.

I have access to the ODNB, here are the key points
He married Clara (1824/5–1888), the daughter of a London theatre manager, Benjamin Conquest, and their daughter, also Clara, was born in 1845.
His relationship with Eliza Webb, the daughter of Charles Webb, contributed to the breakup of his marriage. Following a further tour of the provinces he sailed for New York on 22 December 1860.

Accompanied by Eliza Webb, he then toured Canada. They left for San Francisco and opened there at the Metropolitan Theatre on 21 October 1861. Critical assessment mirrored that of the London critics, but financially the tour was proving disastrous. Dillon left for Australia from Vancouver and arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, in November 1862.

Following a short stay in Tasmania that began in August 1864, the Dillons sailed for New Zealand. . After playing in Christchurch and Dunedin, the Dillons left for Peru in July 1865. Although he intended an extensive tour of South America, political instability forced the Dillons to leave Chile hurriedly, and in December 1865 they returned to New York, where Eliza died of typhoid fever. Dillon remained in the United States until the end of 1866, and left for England in early 1867 after a final season in New York.

He married Bella Mentrup, an actress, in Cardiff in June 1874. His last appearances in London were at Drury Lane, as Leontes in The Winter's Tale (28 September 1878) and as Shylock (7 December 1878). He died suddenly of a stroke in Hawick, Roxburghshire, on 24 June 1881 and was buried in Brompton cemetery on 26 June.